Penguins

Penguins, Tristan Jarry blasted by Blue Jackets

Seth Rorabaugh
Seth Rorabaugh
Slide 1
AP
Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski (right) scores past Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry and forward Noel Acciari during the first period Friday.
Slide 2
AP
Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson collides with Penguins forward Drew O’Connor during the first period Friday.
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AP
Penguins forward Rickard Rakell (left) passes the puck in front of Blue Jackets defenseman Gavin Bayreuther during the first period Friday.
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AP
Penguins forward Michael Bunting (left) chases the puck in front of Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Aston-Reese during the first period Friday.
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Penguins forward Sidney Crosby (right) collides with Blue Jackets defenseman Gavin Bayreuther and goalie Elvis Merzlikins during the second period Friday.
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AP
Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Aston-Reese (left) works for the puck against Penguins forward Noel Acciari during the second period Friday.
Slide 7
AP
Blue Jackets forward Dmitri Voronkov scores past Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry during the third period Friday.

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Tristan Jarry’s first NHL game in nearly a month went much better than his previous appearance.

After all, he played the entire game. He didn’t even complete a period the last time he participated in an NHL contest.

But that was seemingly the only triumph for Jarry and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday as they were routed by one of the NHL’s worst teams, the Columbus Blue Jackets, 6-2, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus Ohio.

In net at the NHL level for the first time since Oct. 16, Jarry made 33 saves on 38 shots as his record fell to 1-2-0. The Penguins’ latest losing streak grew to three games (0-2-1) while the Blue Jackets snapped a six-game losing skid (0-5-1).

“(The Blue Jackets) scored two early,” Jarry said to reporters in Columbus via audio provided by the Penguins’ media relations staff. “They get an off-side tip then they get a goal through the screen. Obviously, it’s tough coming back from (being down) 2-0 at that point. As the game went on, they put a lot of pucks at the net. I did a better job of finding pucks and they kept pressing.”

In his most recent NHL game, Jarry was pulled after allowing three goals on five shots in 11:33 of ice time during a 6-5 home win against the Buffalo Sabres. Jarry’s struggles to open the season were so profound, he was sent to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League for a two-week conditioning stint to remove the impurities that have polluted his play.

He rejoined the NHL club Nov. 9.

“That’s something that goalies go through,” Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves said on Sunday in Cranberry. “There’s not too many goalies in the league that have played however many years and not had patches where they (struggled). … You see a lot of goalies that are like that. Same as it was before. He’s a good goalie. We trust him.

“I hope he’s in a good head space and happy to play hockey.”

Presumably, Jarry was not happy to give up a goal on the first shot he faced Friday. Former Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season only 140 seconds into regulation.

Corralling a loose puck on the left half-wall of the offensive zone, Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Christiansen chucked a wrister toward the cage. Shrugging off a handful of shoves from Graves, Aston-Reese stationed himself just to the left of the crease and deflected the puck with the shaft of his stick past Jarry’s glove on the far side. Christiansen and forward Kevin Lebanc had assists.

Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski scored his fourth goal during a power-play sequence at 8:39 of the first period.

After Blue Jackets forward Sean Monahan won a draw in the Penguins’ left circle, Werenski accepted a pass at the left point and backpedaled toward the center point before offloading the puck to the right point for Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakov. Faking a shot, Chinakov slipped a clever backhand pass back to Werenski, who boomed a one-timer from the right point past the left hip of kneeling Penguins forward Noel Acciari and Jarry’s glove on the near side. Chinakov and forward Adam Fantilli accrued assists.

The Penguins got on the scoreboard at 11:51 of the opening frame when forward Anthony Beauvillier scored his sixth goal of the season and his third in as many games.

Pushing play through the neutral zone, Sidney Crosby gained the offensive zone on the left wing and fed a pass to the left circle where Beauvillier swept a forehand offering to the cage. As forward Rickard Rakell drove the slot to the cage, Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger appeared to break up the sequence with a determined backcheck, causing the puck to hop up into the air with his stick. As Beauvillier swooped around the back of the cage, the rebound returned to earth to the right of the crease where Beauvillier chopped it into the net by goaltender Elvis Merzlikins’ left skate. The only assist was claimed by Crosby.

Acciari appeared to score at 7:47 of the middle frame, but officials determined there was goaltender interference on the sequence, wiping out the would-be goal.

The Penguins tied the contest 2-2 at 12:06 of the second period via forward Michael Bunting’s third goal during a power-play scenario.

Taking a pass at the center point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk snapped a wrister toward the cage and Bunting, positioned above the blue paint, re-directed it on net. Merzlikins made the initial save but could not contain the rebound. Werenski tried to clear the puck but ended up hitting the right skate of Penguins forward Drew O’Connor in the left circle. The puck caromed to the slot where Beauvillier directed it to Bunting below the lower left hashmark. Spinning to his left, Bunting threw a wrister on net that slipped between Merzlikins’ blocker and his right hip. Assists went to Beauvillier and O’Connor.

Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier restored a lead for the hosts with his fifth goal at 16:27 of the second frame.

As Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson pinched in on the right wing of the offensive zone, the Blue Jackets were able to generate a three-on-one rush against Karlsson’s defensive partner, Marcus Pettersson. Entering the Penguins’ zone on the right wing, Werenski drew in Pettersson and offloaded the puck to the right circle where Olivier wired a wrister over Jarry’s glove on the near side. Werenski and defenseman Dante Fabbro tallied assists.

Blue Jackets forward Dmitri Voronkov’s second goal came 1:56 into the third period.

Racing to the right point, Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko kept a puck in the offensive zone and lobbed a wrister toward the cage. Positioned just to the right of the crease, Voronkov inadvertently blocked the shot but was able to jab the rebound through Jarry’s five hole. Marchenko and Monahan merited assists.

That was followed by Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson’s fourth goal at the 9:49 mark.

Deking his way past a sluggish Graves in the Penguins’ slot, Marchenko fired a heavy backhander on net that Jarry booted out. Voronkov followed up on the rebound at the left side of the cage but was denied by Jarry. Off another rebound, Monahan chopped at the puck, inadvertently feeding a pass to the right hashmarks for Severson, who fired a wrister under Jarry’s blocker on the near side. Assists went to Monahan and Voronkov.

Sillinger’s third goal at 15:32 came on an empty net. Defenseman Ivan Provorov and forward Justin Danforth had assists.

“We all know when we’re doing things that are going to give us a chance to win and sometimes it doesn’t end up getting the result you want,” Crosby said to reporters in Columbus. “Then there are times where you beat yourself and don’t give yourself a chance. We were probably guilty of that in the third period.”

Notes:

• Penguins forward Matt Nieto (left knee) was activated from long-term injured reserve and appeared in his first NHL game since Nov. 30, 2023. Opening the contest on the left wing of the fourth line, Nieto logged 13:26 of ice time on 21 shifts, including 4:06 during short-handed situations. He also had one shot on two attempts and was 1 for 1 on faceoffs.

• Speaking with reporters in Columbus, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan indicated defenseman Kris Letang was scratched due to illness and did not travel with the team to Columbus.

• Penguins rookie defenseman Owen Pickering was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier in the day and was a healthy scratch along with rookie forward Vasily Ponomarev.

• Beauvillier is now tied with Crosby and Rakell for the team lead in goals. In addition to that, he surpassed the five goals he scored in 60 games last season as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators.

• In 43 career games against the Blue Jackets, Crosby has 61 points (20 goals, 41 assists).

• O’Connor’s assist was his first point in 12 games.

• Penguins rookie defenseman Jack St. Ivany appeared in his 15th game of the season. He played in only 14 contests upon making his NHL debut last season.

• Monahan recorded his 300th (and 301st) career assist.

• Merzlikins appeared in his 200th career game.

• Forwards Sean Kuraly and Mikael Pyyhtia as well as defenseman Jordan Harris were the only non-goaltenders the Blue Jackets dressed who failed to record a point.

• Former Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson was a healthy scratch.

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